The Ride Of Your Life: A Maximum Ride FanFic
by Insomniatic Vampire
Summary: We all know the story about Max and her flock.But this is the story about the other mutants-Jake and Chi, the ones that were left behind when Jeb kidnapped the other six. while Max saves the world they save the other mutants. But can they save themselves?
1. Part 1

Jake

Pure adrenaline was all I felt. No fear of the massive trailing creatures. Just the window I had always wanted so badly to jump through. White hallway after white hallway flashed past me-and there was what I waited for. The small window at the end of the hall. I listened for a final moment to Chi's calls of encouragement from far behind me, and then threw every pound of my (small) weight through glass, praying there was no wire. Thankfully there wasn't and I found myself steadily falling fifteen feet or so from the 6th floor were I had jumped from. And suddenly-snap. My large, charcoal black wings spread their full 14-foot length. I heaved them up and down until the harsh, uneven beats became smooth and regular. I had done it. Was it really that easy? No. It would not be the last I would see of the hulking newest model of the no longer even relatively human Erasers and their sick-minded creators. The school was not going down that easily. And I still had to go back and rescue Chi, but not with out some help from previous escapees. The escapees that I was determined to find. Luckily, I knew exactly where to go.

Chi

Well, that was that. Jake was gone. She had safely leapt out of the window right before the Erasers could grab her. I was happy that she was finally out of this place. She deserved it. Jake was the cruelest hybrid in our bunch of eight bird-kids. As an extremely young child, some scientists and a few Erasers had broken into her house, killed her parents, and kidnapped her. Once she was back at the School, avian DNA and some DNA from Max, Fang, Gazzy, Angel, Nudge and me had somehow been fused onto her already human body. Because of this, Jake had to experience the excruciating pain of having wings _grow_ out of her back instead of being born with them, and not having any living family to go back to upon escape. But even though I knew all that, I still felt sorry for myself. Because now I had absolutely no one. Max and the others had escaped a few years ago, leaving just Jake and me, but now that Jake was gone…I was completely alone in the horrifying world of the School. A few minutes later, after thinking all of this over again, I cried myself into one of the most unsatisfactory sleeps I would ever have.

The next morning, I was woken by someone shaking the ever-living crap out of me. "Wake up Number Seven, it's time for your eye operation." Grumbled a scientist I didn't recognize. If you're wondering why I'm called #7, it's because I am the seventh mutant in the bird-kid batch. Max is #1, Jake is #8, etc., etc. But the scientist's comment also reminded me of a horrifying fact that I had stupidly overlooked…two of the bird mutants had been selected many years previous for an "eye-enhancing operation". Me, and Iggy, who had gone blind as the result. God knows how that "enhancement" would affect me…

"Number Seven! Get out of your cage!" He reached into his pocket to pull out a tazer, when a hand stopped him. I peered out of my cage. It was Jeb Batchelder, the man who headed the "bird-kid experiment", as we called it. He had always been nice to us; he had given us our names, schooled us, taught us how to speak, and for some reason Jake claimed he had helped the other six of us escape. He dismissed the other scientist and looked down at me with a friendly smile. "Hello there, Chi, (Jeb was the only one at the School who called us by our names), Would you come out of your cage please?" I did as I was told. "Jeb? What if the same thing that happened to Iggy happens to me? I don't want to go blind…" Jeb smiled and began to lead me down the hall to the operating room. "Don't worry Chi, our technology is much more advanced now, and just in case anything does go wrong, we'll only operate on one of your eyes, so the other will be just fine." I bit my lip. Jeb continued, "And you'll be asleep too, so you won't feel any pain." He unlocked the door to the operating room, led me inside, and motioned for me to climb onto the operating table. As more scientists filed into the room, I said a prayer for Max, and her flock, Jake, and myself, just in case I never woke up from this operation. Jeb suddenly pressed a mask to my face. "Ok now, breathe in and count to ten." I nodded. _One, two, three, four, fi…_ The last thing I saw was a gloved hand come at my eye with a sharp tool. Then everything faded to black.

Max

Fang and I sat hand and hand, my head on his hard, comfortable shoulder, on the soft white sand with the heat of the midday sun pouring warm rays on my body still wet from our time in the ocean.

I am pretty sure that was the most amazing sentence I have ever had the pleasure to think. Fang pulled his face down so I could see his eyes and looked at me lightly quizzically. "So?" I sat up a bit confused. "So, what?" I responded. Fang rolled his eyes and continued. "So, what's the plan? Don't tell me you have been spending a week at the beach without coming up with 'a plan'." I blushed a bit, "The Max I have come to now is slowly disappearing." He said with fake sorrow, and then flashed another of his uncommon smiles. "Well first of all I wanted to talk to the flock first about what they think," I swiftly lied. I really should get rid of that bad habit. "And two, I could second that. What was that two whole full sentences?" I joked with a wide smile on my face. Fang shrugged, obviously now self-conscious about how much he was speaking. Too bad. I think I was kind of enjoying the talkative Fang.

"Lets go for a fly." I suddenly blurted out, breaking the comfortable silence. Fangs face lit up a good bit more than he would ever admit to and I could not help but laugh. "The whole flock, you love struck little boy." I smacked him (softly) on the back of his head. I stood up, brushing the sand of my legs as I yelled for the kids. Nudge and Angel came running up from the sand castle they were creating, Iggy and Gazzy ran up and I could have sworn Gazzy was hiding something behind his back, but for the sake of my sanity I chose to ignore it. I could tell Fang was a still a little disappointed, so I decided to make it up to him. But as I fell down slightly to fly closer to him we both noticed an odd figure in the distance. It obviously had wings, but it was way to big to be a hawk and too small to be an Eraser-which we had not seen in God knows how long. "On guard everyone!" I shouted so they could all hear. I heard varying sighs of disappointment as they all looked up and prepared themselves for a fight-which was the most likely of scenarios.

Jake

I flapped my wings, pain from my cramped muscles shooting from my back all the way to my thighs. I groaned and tried to fly closer to Max and my other old friends, who were already in the air, and from their stances, I was relieved to know that they had seen me. But I was losing strength. I had flown for at least three days straight from Death Valley to Orlando. And the trek was taking its toll. I was losing altitude, and my wing beats were becoming more and more haggard. Luckily, the flock had begun to advance towards me; Max must have recognized me. But my relief was short-lived. My vision was getting blurrier and blurrier, and my wings could not move anymore. My wings folded in, and I began to fall at an astonishing speed towards the ocean below.

Max

"It's Jake! Everyone-quick! Grab her before she hits the water!" The six of us immediately swooped in, me in the lead of course, going at one of my rare breakneck speeds. Jake was only feet from the water when we grabbed her and flew her back to the beach. She had been unconscious for almost a good half hour when she finally bolted upright, her eyes wide in horror. Seeing us sitting around her though, she sighed in relief and lay back down.

Jake

"Hey guys," I said, my voice slightly hoarse from the lack of water. "How goes it?" Max smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. "Long time no see, Jake." "Hi Jake!" Said Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge. Iggy smiled, and Fang just grunted. I gave a weak smile and slowly sat up again. Supporting myself against the rock behind me. "It's nice to see everyone out of cages and on a beautiful beach," I joked. Everyone laughed except Fang, who only cracked a smile. Max spoke again. "I can't believe you flew all the way here without stopping. How'd you escape?" "I nicked the keys from one of the lab workers that got too close," I said with an air of pride. Then Nudge asked the question I had been dreading. "Wasn't there another girl too? Chi, I think? What about her? Is she okay?" I frowned and put my head on my knees. Angel quickly read my mind and said, "Jake wasn't able to save her, and she's still back at that…um, word-I-can't-say place." She read more. "Oh no! And she had to go through an eye-enhancement surgery too?" Iggy's eyes immediately widened. I tried as hard as I could to hold back my tears, but it was impossible. I shoved my head farther down behind my knees so they wouldn't see me crying, but my voice gave it away. "I couldn't save her…she could be dead or blind or _worse_ by now…" I felt a hand on my shoulder and presumed it to be Max's. I looked up and was surprised to see that the hand was Iggy's. I was still a bit shocked by this when Max spoke a moment later. "Don't worry Jake. We'll get her back." "I'm glad you say that," I replied, "Because that's why I came here. I can't break into that place by myself."

Chi

"Number Seven, wake up. Keep your eyes closed." Since there was a hand clamped over my face, I couldn't open my eyes anyway, but I just nodded. The darkness was a bit overwhelming though, because I had no idea if I still had my vision. The hand was slowly removed. "Open your left eye." Tentatively, I did as I was told. To my relief, I could see perfectly, and my vision was still as normal as it had been. "Now slowly open your other eye." I bit my lip, and slowly opened my right eye, which was stinging a little. As soon as it was fully opened, I gasped. My vision was slightly tinted with red, but I could see_ everything._ From the wrinkles in someone's face and the detail of their eye to fine print on a clipboard seven feet away. Before I could stop myself, I had bolted upright and said, "This is spectacular!" The scientists eyed me curiously, but the surgeons had a smug look on their faces. The man that had instructed me to open my eyes grimaced and spoke harshly to me. "This isn't some _treat_ for you Number Seven! Your eyesight is for our purposes only." In a darker tone of voice, he added," No matter what they may be." With that, he motioned for me to be put back in my cage. An Eraser in human form, who I hadn't noticed before, moved from the shadows and approached me. I saw Jeb flinch as the hulking man dragged me off the operating table and down the hall, back to the dimly lit room with my dog crate in it. As I was shoved inside, I meekly prayed for my sake. _Where are you Jake? If you don't save me, who will? If anyone ever will…_

Little did I know that my rescue would come sooner than I thought.

Max

Fang and I flew slow circles in the air, looking down at the Lake Mead, and occasionally glancing over to the outcropping where Jake and Iggy were babysitting the little ones. Completely at random, I spoke to Fang. "So what do you think of Jake? She's really grown up." I sighed. "But I guess all of us have." I looked at Fang, whose wing-beats had suddenly slowed. He hovered in the air, glowering at the landscape below us.

Fang

I still found it hard to believe that Jake was still alive, and that she had gone through so much trouble to come back to us was astounding. And Max was right, she had grown up. The first person I had spoke to when we were old enough to talk, the innocent little girl who would hold my hand through the gaps in the crate whenever I was sad, my first friend, was vastly different from the Jake that I'd seen today. The only similarity was her spunk and her ember-colored hair. And her love for me, which I hoped only I had noticed. I don't know why, but every time she had tried to reach out to me since we'd saved her, anger flooded through me. I suppose it was because one side of me wanted to shout that all of the intimate moments that Jake and I had had when we were little and back at the School were over and weren't coming back, and that wasn't it obvious that I loved Max now? However the other side of me wanted to push away the anger, and walk over to Jake and tell her how much I'd missed her and worried about her, and how happy I was that she was okay. But I had the unfortunate feeling that the anger would prevail. Besides, showing Jake how much I cared for her would only complicate everything with the flock, and more importantly, it would break Max's heart.

Max. I suddenly realized that she had somewhat asked me a question, and I had been glaring angrily at Lake Mead for a good three minutes. I snapped my head up and instantly met her confused gaze. Seeing my look of embarrassment, she instantly started laughing. "Zoning out again Fang?" Just hearing her laugh made me feel better. I realized then that was proof enough that I loved Max more than Jake. "Yeah," I said, finally answering Max's question. "She has." Max nodded, a laugh still caught in her mouth. An updraft suddenly blew Max's flaxen hair into her brown eyes, and before she could do it herself, I flew closer and brushed the wavy strands out of her face. She blushed, and then I knew for sure. No matter how painful it would be for Jake if or when she found out, I loved Max, and Max alone.

Jake

I had been watching Fang and Max circle each other romantically for about twenty minutes, and I suddenly leapt to me feet with a surge of jealousy. Feeling me get up, Iggy grabbed my ankle. "Take it easy there, Jake! Getting up that fast is going to make you-" Before he could finish, my head began to swim, and I rocked back on my heels. I didn't notice Iggy had moved to catch my fall until I was in his arms. "…Dizzy," he finished. I heard Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge laugh. I felt sort of awkward being this close to Iggy, but I was too sick to move, and his arms were sort of comfortable, I hated to admit. I also honestly didn't remember the last time someone had held me like this, and I involuntarily found myself leaning into him. His voice jolted me back to the situation at hand. "Wow. You're hair is so…Red," he said, curling it through his fingers (Max had told me about everyone's new powers, and Iggy could sense colors by touch). I gave a weak laugh, and quickly pulled away, glad that Iggy couldn't see me blushing. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know," I added sarcastically. I heard him laugh, and when I looked back at him, I saw that he was blushing too. He blushed even more furiously as he spoke. "And don't pull away so quickly. Unless I touch your hair, I…I can't see what you look like." By that time, my cheeks were probably the color of my hair, and before I knew it, I had thrown myself off the outcropping and into the air.

I pumped my wings, which weren't sore anymore after three days of rest, until I was directly beneath Max and Fang. "Hey guys. Beautiful up here, huh?" Max nodded and smiled in her usual friendly manner. "Yeah, totally." I glanced at Fang, who had a pained expression on his face that I didn't recognize. I frowned. Why was he avoiding me? I was just being nice. Ignoring this, I looked back at Max. "I'm really sorry that I have to drag all of you guys back to that hellhole." Max nodded. "Don't worry. This isn't the first rescue mission that we've endured. Angel was captured a few months ago, and when we went back to get her, all of us ended up getting thrown back in cages again." My eyes widened. "You were back at the School? But Chi and I never saw any of you…" Max nodded again. "We were kept in a separate building, but Angel read Chi's mind and told us you were still there." I was about to speak again, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang start to circle downwards; away from us, away from _me_. I bit my lip and couldn't help but turn my entire head towards him. I wanted to call out, but I was too heartbroken. A tear slipped from my eye. "You're lucky you have him," I said to Max, not bothering to conceal my sadness. Max looked clueless for a second and then looked down. "Yeah," she said, "Sometimes I think I don't deserve him." _Well you don't deserve him,_ I thought. But it wasn't until I saw Max's shocked expression that I realized I had actually _said_ those words. Her expression quickly turned to fury and she shouted, "What are you talking about? You haven't even _seen us_ for four and a half years! How would you know anything?!" I didn't know that she'd hit me until my nose began throbbing and I felt blood trickle down my lip. I was surging with anger, and as I threw a punch at her, I shouted, "Well _excuse me_ for BEING IN A FRIGGIN' CAGE for all those years!" I was pleased with my fist as it made contact with her cheek. Seething, she zoomed forward and blacked my eye. I prepared myself for a punch to her ribs when she suddenly spun around back of me and kneed me in the spine. Excruciating pain shot through me, and I was momentarily paralyzed. But even if I hadn't been paralyzed, I couldn't stop her from then delivering a final blow to the back of my head. Broken and bloodied, my wings folded, and I shot downwards towards the surface of Lake Mead. Before I could make impact though, I lost consciousness.

Iggy

I sat by the fire, listening to Fang, Nudge, Iggy, and Angel talk and joke with each other, about to fall asleep, when two things happened. First, I was pushed out of the way by what had to be  
Fang as he bolted into the air, and second, Angel and Nudge screamed "Jake!" As soon as I heard her name, I threw myself into the air and snapped my wings out, not knowing where I was going, just intent on saving Jake from whatever predicament she was in now. But then I realized, I _couldn't _save her. I didn't even know where I was going! I hovered in the air, about to give up, when a hand grabbed my own and Nudge's voice broke my thoughts. "Come on Iggy, I'll bring you to where she is!" Thank god for Nudge. I flapped my wings as fast as I could, clutching Nudge's hand tightly, as she pulled me along. We were pulled to an abrupt stop though, and I heard Angel and Nudge cry out. "Jake! Poor Jake! What happened to you?" I reached out blindly, groping for a lock of Jake's hair. I finally got a hold of some, and sighed. "Geez, Jake, what _did you do_?!" Jake's right eye was black, her lip and nose were bleeding, and she was bent back at an odd angle, as if something was wrong with her spine. Fang, who was slightly blurry in my color only vision, held Jake delicately in his arms, and looked down at her unconscious body as if it was a young child who had scraped their knee.


	2. Part 2

Nudge spoke worriedly, "We should probably bring her down." Fang nodded and I was the only one that heard him mutter "Max, why did you do this?" as we flew back towards the cliff. I frowned. Fang was definitely right with his assumption that Max had done this, but _why?_

When we had all landed, Fang pulled me inside the cave. I heard him set Jake down and turn to me. "Iggy, I don't know what reasons Max had for doing this, but it could very well have been Jake's fault for getting creamed. We both know it takes a lot to provoke Max." I nodded, and Fang continued. "Take care of the flock for me. I'm gonna go and see if I can find Max, and unless we're gone for more than a day, don't freak and come looking for us. And for your own sake, don't cross Jake." I heard Fang move and my hand shot out to grab his shirt. "Fang, about Jake… I don't think I _can_ stay away from her. I think… I might be in love with her." An hour must have passed by before Fang actually responded. I heard him take a breath. "My mouth is open in shock, Ig." I heard Fang say goodbye to Angel, Nudge and Gazzy, and then his shoes skid on gravel as he took off. I sighed. "Thanks for the advice, Fnick," I muttered to myself. Then I sat down next to Gazzy. "Hey Gasser, do we have any bombs left, or do I need to make some more? I need something to do."

Chi

I don't know how long I sat on my cage, drifting in and out of sleep. Blurred memories of when Jake and the flock were still here coursed through my mind. Of course, there were a few that stood out the most. One of the more prominent ones was of all of us sitting in Jeb's office, reading magazines. It was a year before Jeb stole Max and the others away and we were all about 7-9, (Angel was one and Gazzy was two at this time), and it was one of the rare times Jeb was allowed to keep us out of our cages. I remembered that each of us had favored a different place. Max had fallen in love with a beautiful beach resort in Florida, Fang had eyed a foggy city in Seattle, Jake was amazed at all the life in the desert city of Las Vegas, I treasured an article on Times Square in New York, Nudge obsessed over the Bahamas, and because Iggy could still see, he couldn't tear himself away from the pages listing the coolest amusement parks in the world. Of course, Max asked Jeb something that all of us would never forget.

She had set her magazine down on the table, turned to Jeb with an earnest face, and said, "Jeb, will we ever get to see these places?" All of us had froze and fixed our gazes on Jeb. Shock had crossed his face for an instant, and then he smiled, that kind, understanding, fatherly smile that he was so good at. "We'll see," he'd said. "We'll see." Another memory was more recent, a few months old. It had thoroughly confused me, and I still couldn't quite get it. Jake and I had just had an insane amount of blood taken, and Jeb was trying to talk us out of our dizziness. I couldn't pinpoint how I was feeling then, because I had just lost about a pound of blood and I was literally seeing stars. I had recovered a little after a minute, and suddenly, emotions had surged through me. I had thrown myself against the bars of my crate, and screamed," Jeb! Why did you take Max and the others away from us? I miss them!" I recalled it had taken all I had in me not to burst into tears, and Jake squeezed my hand through the bars of our cages. Once again, Jeb had just smiled. But what he'd said would stick with me forever. "It's simple, sweetheart. Max's destiny is to save the world." Jeb, or course, didn't mention why we weren't included in assisting Max in her destiny. Upon relaying this to Jake, she had said, "You're right, Chi. If they're off saving the world, we should be too, right next to them. We're all a team…a flock." I knew that Jake was trying to be encouraging, but I saw right through to her half-heartedness. But her words had stuck with me, too.

I removed myself from my memories and sighed, shocked to find my throat thick with impending tears. I swallowed down the lump of clay feeling as best I could, took a deep breath, and then tried to fall asleep. I was about to drift into unconsciousness when the smallest sound jolted me awake. _Creak_. I straightened up, (which was difficult to do when you're stuck in a freaking cage, but I managed) and looked around at the other mutants. All of them seemed to be asleep, or at least in some form of it, and I was praying the stiller, quieter ones were merely asleep and not, well, dead. I shook the thought away and then remembered. I had a totally pimped-out eye! I moved my curtain of long black hair away from my face and focused my right eye. I nearly screamed. A tall, thin, _human_ boy had crawled through the window at the end of the hallway.

I was dumbfounded that he had snuck in without triggering an alarm or being eaten by Erasers. Soundlessly, he slid the window shut, ran a hand through his hair, and looked around. My eye, unfortunately, couldn't see through the dark, so I couldn't see exactly what he looked like, but I could tell that he was heading towards the door that led to the large room the other mutants and I were being kept in. Was he here to rescue us? My heart soared upward, only to crash down again with the realization that this door was locked with not a key, but an electronic code. You had to be a whitecoat to get in here. Of course, the boy silently strode towards the door and tried anyways. I sighed and leaned against the back of my cage, hoping the boy would realize he couldn't get in and get the heck out of this dump. Of course, that was why I very nearly keeled over when the lock clicked with a little beep and the door swung open. As if fate had foretold it, the boy moved towards my cage door. My mouth fell open when I saw what his face looked like. Slightly Asian looking, with long, straight, dirty-blonde hair and ice-blue eyes, he was easily the most attractive person I had ever seen. He had a finger pressed to his lips. When he spoke, his voice was like nothing I had ever heard: soft, and polite and soothing. "Ok, I'm here to get you out of this place, little mutant, but you have to be very quiet-" Of course, this was too good to actually happen, and the reality check was given by a boy mutant that had had his vocal muscles removed and replaced by that of a birds. Apparently, too paranoid to trust anyone, the poor thing started squawking like a maniac, and it was so painful sounding, I knew the noise was going to give me nightmares. As if he was expecting this, the boy with blue eyes burst open my cage door with a peculiar device and pulled me out of the cage. I was too shocked, horrified, and amazed to speak. With me literally tucked under his arm, the boy kicked open the door he had opened earlier and ran down the hall he had entered from. By now, Chicken-Boy had set off all the alarms, and only I could hear the furious footsteps of whitecoats and the bloodthirsty growls of the Erasers drawing closer. I didn't quite realize exactly what was happening until two Erasers exploded out of a door at the end of the hall. They lunged for us, claws outstretched, just as the boy threw open the window.

One of the Erasers' claws raked into my thigh, and it took all of my self-control not to scream like a baby. The Erasers pulled at my legs, trying to tear me away from the boy, but he was unusually strong, and when an Eraser kicked him in the stomach, he used the momentum to hurl me halfway through the window. "You can fly, right?" He shouted trying to hold off both Erasers at once, his voice thick with blood. I clutched the windowsill, not caring how he knew that, just determined to get both of us out of here alive. I slid myself back into the hallway so that my torso wasn't dangling out the window. I was about to nod and swing a kick at the Eraser holding him back when the one clutching my leg removed his other claw from the boys arm and sunk in way deep into my left forearm. This time, I really did scream. But the pain was quickly replaced my burning fury that I had never felt before. This time, I followed through with my kick, hitting the jaw of the Eraser holding me, pleased when he let go and fell to the ground. I aimed a punch for the Eraser that had both claws around the boy's neck, but the boy wrenched a hand free and blocked it.

"Get…outta…here," he said, struggling to speak. "No!" I spat angrily, and surprised myself by shouting, "Not without you!" But the boy had already chosen me over him. He broke free of the Eraser's grasp, and this time, he pushed me all the way out the window. I free fell for a minute before I took stock of the situation and snapped my wings open. I worked them smoothly up and down until I was heading up and away at a good speed. It felt so good that I didn't realize I had left the boy behind. Fear gripped my heart and I spun around, the sudden motion hurting my wings, but I didn't care. But I was too late. The last thing I saw were Eraser claws forcefully bringing the boy to the ground. He didn't get back up. The Eraser stuck its head out the window and smiled demonically at me, its razor teeth that were much too big for its mouth gleaming yellow in the moonlight. I screamed in horror and propelled myself into the clouds. But even though I had escaped the School, I couldn't escape the terrifying truth… _A human boy died in the process of saving _me.

Jake

To say that I hurt all over would be an extreme understatement. Even saying that I felt like a train had just run right over me wouldn't be accurate enough. I was also shocked that I had been _beaten_, because I never, ever lost a fight. Sure, I had probably banged Max up a little, but _she had won_. I cursed under my breath and cracked open an eye. We were still in that little cliff-side cave, and I could hear the little kids wheeling around with some hawks outside. Hoping I was alone, I painstakingly eased myself to a sitting position. _Super bad idea._ My spine exploded into so much pain I hollered like a maniac and dropped limply back to the cave floor. Now, let me tell you something. It takes just as much or more to surprise Max as it takes to make me cry. And then, if you're lucky, maybe you'll get a single tear, but to make me bawl like I was now, you'd need the apocalypse, (See the irony there? 'Cause you know, we're all trying to save the world?). But now, I was completely defacing that Jake-doesn't-show-emotion stereotype and crying my ever-loving eyes out.

And I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I knew who it was immediately. "What, Iggy?" I muttered, my voice embarrassingly thick with tears. "Jake, stop crying," he said soothingly, his hand gently fingering a lock of my hair. "Look at me," he finished. I begrudgingly removed my hands from my face and looked into his eyes. "What…" I said, my voice shrinking to a pained whisper. Iggy leaned over me and moved the hand that wasn't clutching my hair up my neck to rest on my cheek. It felt unusually good. "Don't cry, Jake," he whispered, in a sweet, sad, voice I had never heard before. Then he leaned in even further, and just like that, I was kissing him. And as sappy and non-me as it sounds, all my pain and worries suddenly went away.

Max

If you know me well, then you'll know that guilt was not one of my common feelings. I can steal clothes, hotwire cars, break necks, and not even blink. But here I was, sitting on a tree branch, and so totally regretting kicking Jake's butt. I settled myself farther into the crook of the tree branch, enjoying how thick, dark, and concealing this forest was. I closed my eyes and tried to relax, unsuccessfully. My ears had detected swift, practically silent wing-beats overhead. I peered upwards, and my raptor vision quickly revealed Fang's dim silhouette hovering above the treetops. I somewhat regrettably crawled out of my perch and hurled myself upwards, making powerful down-strokes with my wings to get me aloft. I flew up to Fang and gave a weak smile. "Hey." Fang just looked at me, with his classic reveal-nothing expression. It drove me insane, but it was better then a look of anger or disappointment. "Why did you hurt Jake? She's pretty bent up." Fang said blatantly. I sighed, closed my eyes, and soared upwards. But he caught up to me in a matter of seconds, and continued. "You almost broke her spine, you know. You could have killed her." Guilt twisted painfully in my stomach. I had almost _killed _her?! My face contorted into a pained expression. And then, completely out of the blue, Fang flew up, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed my neck. "I'm not mad at you, Max. I know you had your reasons." Mmmmm. Could you ask for a better guy? Jake was right, I so _didn't_ deserve him. Jake… My thoughts kept curving back her. Why had she been so fired up about Fang? And then it hit me, as if someone had just dumped a bowl of ice water on my head. Jake was in love with Fang.

Chi

I flew farther and farther and farther away, keeping just below the clouds. My whole mouth was incredibly sore from holding back tears of pain and horror. My arm and leg hurt like hell, and they were both dripping copious amounts of blood all over me, and that poor, kind boy was _dead. Dead!_ And it was all my stupid fault that I hadn't grabbed him and dragged him out the window with me. I whimpered and angled my wings downwards, because even though I'd like to, I couldn't fly all night. Far off mountains quickly loomed in my advanced vision and I soared towards them. I saw a tiny plateau jutting out from a cliff, and, noticing a small cave there, I flew closer. After landing clumsily, I crawled miserably into the cave and held my face in my dirty, bloodstained hands. Dirt coated my throat and I was so thirsty I was close to licking the blood of my excruciating arm injury, but I knew I could never really bring myself to do that. It hurt more and more every minute to keep myself from crying my eyes out, but I knew that crying would make me even more dehydrated, so I held it in. I fitfully willed myself into a state of sleepiness, even though I felt like I had been electrocuted on the inside. The hard, rocky, cave floor felt like I was laying on pieces of glass. But comfort didn't matter. Because from lack of water, loss of blood, and all this trauma, I'd hopefully be dead by morning.

Ryu

I woke up strapped to an operation table. I wasn't all that surprised actually, considering I had intruded on a secret hideout of insane scientists, and succeeded in rescuing one of their most successful "experiments". But at least I had succeeded, and that black-haired girl was safe. A bit of relief washed through me remembering this, but it was painfully obvious it wouldn't last. Especially since I was probably about to _become_ an experiment. And I highly doubted I would be able to rescue myself. I craned my neck forward and tried to hazard a guess to my surroundings. I could see all sorts of cruel-looking needles, IVs, scalpels, vials and vials of this weird greenish liquid, and for some reason, there were even light-absorbing panels. Two scientists came over to the side of my table, and I furiously gritted my teeth as they created an IV drip with the green liquid. As a clean needle was fastened to the end, I screamed in anguish. It was, no doubt, going straight into MY arm. "Hey, you psychos! What the hell is with you? Do you _enjoy _screwing with innocent kids' bodies?" The scientist ignored me, adjusted his rubber gloves, tightened the mask he was wearing, and motioned for a few other scientists to come over.

To add to my fury, one of them came over and _gagged_ me while the others began swabbing my arms with alcohol. And not just one spot, but my _entire_ arm! What where they doing to me?! I peered viciously through my overly long bangs that had fallen in my face, and seethed. There where now about ten different IVs, all filled with that green liquid, and a few where already flowing into my veins, courtesy of the assistant whack-jobs. Since I couldn't talk with the gag in my mouth, my cries of rage just came out as pitiful growling sounds. The scientists didn't even look up as they finished fastening the tenth and final IV into my arm. Then, the one that had gagged me pressed a button, and the ceiling opened up. The light of the crescent moon flooded into the dim room and instantly beamed onto the absorbing panels, which I noticed where connected to all the IVs, making them glow weirdly. Horror suddenly surged through me. Lunar power? So many IVs? _What were they turning me into?!_


	3. AuthorCharacter Dialogue

InsomniaticVampire: Yo guys!! I just wanted to say thank you so much for reading my story, and I hope you're enjoying it!! Also-

Jake: Why the hell would they be enjoying all of us going through these depressing and painful situations?!

Chi: Jake, it's rude to interrupt!!! Go away and make out with Iggy or something!!

Jake: Gladly!!

InsomniaticVampire: Thank you, Chi! Anyway, as I was saying. Also, I would like to apologize for not posting an actual new chapter. See, I'm suffering from a hell of a writer's block, so you awesome fans will have to wait a little longer for the next chapter-

Fang: You know, when I had writer's block with my blog, what I did was-

Chi: Will you jerks stop interrupting!!!!!

Ryu: You know Chi; it's not really a big deal…

Chi: I don't give a crap!!! I'm suffering from dehydration and blood-loss, I don't think I'm ever going to see my best friend again, and I'm under the impression that you're dead and think I'm going to die anyway!! I'm easily angered!!!

Ryu: Well at least you're not getting turned into something freaky by insane scientists.

Max: Um, Ryu, all of us bird-kids already WERE turned into something freaky by insane scientists.

Chi: I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT!!

Ryu: Oh…Yeah… Sorry… I'm gonna, um, go to sleep now.

Chi: You do that. I'm going to do the same, because I'm getting a little dizzy from all the blood loss. Also, I'm getting sick of watching Iggy and Jake kissing in the corner…

Fang: Ditto.

Max: Yeah. Thank god Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy are asleep already. It's getting kind of intense...

InsomniaticVampire: Alrightey then!! Thanks for tolerating this and waiting a little longer everyone!! And excuse the crude conversations of my characters :P. Oh yeah, and before I forget, I just wanted to add that the rough version of the first Jake scene was originally written by my friend KaiChii-San (.net/u/2005424/), and Jake is her character. Peace out!!

Fang: Fly on.

Max: Good night!!

Ryu and Chi: ZZZZZZZ

Jake and Iggy: **censored**


	4. Part 3

Angel

I heard Max and Fang's thoughts way before they actually landed beside Nudge and Gazzy and I. Max was split between regretting busting Jake up and relief that we were all okay. Fang was still puzzled about why Max and Jake had fought, but showed no signs of asking. He was also curious about Jake's condition and Iggy's new crush on her. This was news to me, but since I was pretending to be asleep, I held back my surprise. But my cover was given away by my stomach, which grumbled quite loudly as Max passed by. Fang continued into the far reaches of the cave to check on Jake and Iggy, but Max smiled and stooped down to ruffle my hair.

"I'm hungry too, sweetie. But it's too dark to fly right now, so first thing tomorrow I promise we'll all go out and nab some breakfast, okay?" She said, kicking some more twigs into our dying fire. "Jake, too?" I asked, for I could sense Max's mixed feelings about letting her join the flock. Max looked taken aback and abruptly shifted her gaze to the rocky cave floor. She turned back to me with an earnest gaze. "Well, Angel, I seriously screwed up today. But I hope she's okay, and if I can manage to make amends with her and she's able to fly by tomorrow morning, then yes. Now get some rest, sweetie. We have a long day tomorrow." I nodded and watched as she grabbed a red hoodie from Fang's backpack and pulled it on over her T-shirt. As she headed farther back into the cave, I closed my eyes and let sleep envelope me.

Fang

I had flipped open my lighter and walked farther into the cave until I saw Iggy and Jake laying on the cave-floor. They were fast asleep, Jake's head resting on Iggy's shoulder, and his arm wrapped protectively around her. I gave a small smile, glad that Iggy had finally found someone of his own to love, and that Jake returned his feelings. I heard Max behind me and cocked my head towards the two of them. I saw her smile in the glow of the lighter, and didn't budge when _she_ rested her head on _my_ shoulder. I clicked off my lighter and hand in hand, we walked back to the other sleeping kids. With our hands still together, we both fell asleep in the light of the dying coals.

Max

Because it just didn't ever happen, I didn't fully fall asleep when I closed my eyes. I mean, my body was definitely asleep, but my mind? No chance. As always, the events of today were spinning in my head. Jake, mainly. What Angel had said really struck me. '_"Jake, too?"_' What a question. I knew it seemed only reasonable to let her join the flock, but at the same time it didn't. The six of us had grown up together, truly bonded with just ourselves, but she and Chi had grown apart from us. We could be nice to Jake on the outside, but it would take years to truly feel like she belonged with us, even is she was also a mutant. I sighed sleepily. Why must I always have to make these decisions?

_Because you're the leader, Max._

_Voice, long time no speak. I sure missed you, _I thought sarcastically._ Have any bombs to drop on me right before I fall asleep?_

_No Max, no bombs. But I do have something to say._

_Indeed? I could use a confusing, profoundly aggravating memo right about now…_

_I think you should let Jake join the flock._

_What?_

_Why are you so surprised? She needs a home and friends, and she's one of you._

_No! It's not that! It's that you actually somewhat answered one of my questions!_

The Voice was silent after that, and I couldn't help but feel a little pleased. First, because I was usually happy whenever I could silence the Voice, and second, I had finally made my decision about Jake. And then, I fell asleep.


End file.
